1921: Austria’s First Independent Federal Chancellor

Economic uncertainty defined the political situation in the first years of the Republic. Most problematic was the shortage of food supplies, as well as the threat of rising inflation. The Social Democrats withdrew from the government with the second-strongest party, the Christian Socials, even before the first regular parliamentary elections in 1920. In these elections, their position changed further - the Social Democrats were clearly defeated.

Despite the conflicts between the parties, they attempted to find stability both before and after the election: At first, representatives of all parliamentary parties were represented in the government, but also included a few ministers who were non-party officials. When these cabinets also failed, the Christian Socials and the German Nationals assembled a government consisting primarily of non-party ministers. They were sworn in on June 21, 1921. Even the Federal Chancellor Johann Schober had no official party membership, but was considered to be part of the German National milieu.

Schober’s time in office was shaped by a decision that he could only make because he did not belong to any party: a treaty with Czechoslovakia was to help the state out of its financial crisis. The German Nationals were so angered by the rapprochement to the neighouring state, however, that they toppled Schober’s government – despite his close relationship to their party.

After a few months, the Christian Socials also dropped Schober. Ignaz Seipel, the party leader of the Christian Socials replaced him as Federal Chancellor and Schober became the police chief of Vienna again. In this role, he was responsibility for the violence that the police had exerted against the demonstraters at the Palace of Justice fire, which claimed 89 lives.

These events once again inflamed the political atmosphere in the First Republic. Nevertheless, in 1929, seven years after his first term, a conservative and German National majority in parliament agreed on the re-appointment of Johann Schober as chancellor and on another government consisting mostly of non-party officials. When, after a short time, this government also lost support in the National Council, Schober ended his career as an independent and founded his own German National party. In the subsequent elections of 1930, he was the leading candidate for this coalition party (“National Economic Block”). He became Vice Chancellor for a short time before he died in 1932 as an active members of the national Council.

External Link (in German only):

Biografie von Johann Schober auf der Homepage des Parlaments